Equistatin and equinatoxin gene expression is influenced by environmental temperature in the sea anemone Actinia equina

Abstract We examined the gene expression levels of equinatoxin and equistatin in the sea anemone Actinia equina, when reared at varying environmental temperatures for five months. Both genes were significantly downregulated at 10 °C compared to 16 °C but showed no significant change at 22 °C. This provides the first evidence of an effect of temperature on gene expression, but with no effect of increasing temperatures such as those predicted due to climate change.